tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post4036796743662285458..comments2016-12-08T11:10:00.186-05:00Comments on Boston 1775: The Myth of Provost William CunninghamJ. L. Bellnoreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-28018544873580696682011-03-02T21:22:41.270-05:002011-03-02T21:22:41.270-05:00Ralph Cunningham served as 2nd Lieut. in the Loyal...Ralph Cunningham served as 2nd Lieut. in the Loyal Irish Volunteers during the British occupation of Boston. After the battle of New York he served as Capt-Lieut. with the 2nd Battalion of Delancey&#39;s Brigade and was stationed mostly at Kingsbridge, north of the city. <br /> In early 17778 he served as Adjutant of the Royal American Reformees (a short lived effort by the British to entice Continental soldiers and militia to desert to the Crown) before being commissioned in late 1778 as a Lieut. in the British Legion just as the Southern Campaign began in earnest. Lieut. Ralph Cunningham was killed in action at Hanging Rock, South Carolina in August of 1780. <br /> I am not aware of him ever attaining a Captaincy although he served as Captain-Lieutenant in Delancey&#39;s 2nd for most of 1777 and early 1778.<br /> That&#39;s all I have. Good luck with your continued search!A.B.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-82366751716525987812010-07-30T12:20:21.536-05:002010-07-30T12:20:21.536-05:00Thanks for that news! Someone should put together ...Thanks for that news! Someone should put together the information on William Cunningham’s pre- and post-war career.J. L. Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-32506819569135513132010-07-30T08:15:28.754-05:002010-07-30T08:15:28.754-05:00I have the provost as married and living in Tullam...I have the provost as married and living in Tullamore co.<br /><br /> I have the kew widows pension and other records to prove it. he did not get hung he married as an older man. He is burried in Tullamore co. kings in the church of ireland graveyard.<br /><br />I have direct contact with a relative of him !!<br /><br />wjrobin64@yahoo.comwjrobin64http://www.blogger.com/profile/09343002570895098740noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-16162976584310388762010-02-09T13:29:10.133-05:002010-02-09T13:29:10.133-05:00Thanks for that source! The son Ralph helps to con...Thanks for that source! The son Ralph helps to confirm that this was the same William Cunningham.J. L. Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-83503579839420283572010-02-09T10:48:10.528-05:002010-02-09T10:48:10.528-05:00I refer you to a copy of J.R.S. Whiting&#39;s &quo...I refer you to a copy of J.R.S. Whiting&#39;s &quot;Prison Reform in Gloucestershire, 1776-1820&quot;. William was governor of Gloucester Castle Gaol from summer 1790 until early 1792, when he was replaced by his son, Thomas. William was demoted to turnkey because of his overfamiliarity with the prisoners!<br />His other son, Ralph, aslo worked in the same service.Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10324657296420276371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-21376002335396583372008-01-03T22:23:00.000-05:002008-01-03T22:23:00.000-05:00Thanks, JR White. That data seems to fit all the d...Thanks, JR White. That data seems to fit all the details about Thomas Cunningham. If he was the son of William, then some of the later accounts of the Gloucester jailer may have mixed up the two.J. L. Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-15656590623418630842008-01-03T17:09:00.000-05:002008-01-03T17:09:00.000-05:00Rachel Sayre, d/o Loyalist Rev. John Sayre, was th...Rachel Sayre, d/o Loyalist Rev. John Sayre, was the wife of Lt Thomas Cunningham, who at the organization of Delancey's Brigade in 1776 was Ensign in Company 4; his wife's uncle, Rev James Sayre, was the chaplain in Company 8.<BR/><BR/>In 1784, his wife petitioned for land with her widowed mother and 7 siblings in New Brunswick as "Rachel Cunningham,-wife to Lieut. Thomas Cunningham".<BR/><BR/>They soon left New Brunswick, for England, apparently.<BR/>Could this be your man?<BR/>Cordially, JR WhiteAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-30424069018339644082007-10-10T10:57:00.000-05:002007-10-10T10:57:00.000-05:00And yet the same British government site mentions ...And yet the <A HREF="http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/" REL="nofollow">same British government site</A> mentions a “gaolers’ certificate, Thomas Cunningham, Gloucester,” dated 1793. Perhaps he was already working for the governor (his father?) there. Which would help to explain the <I>Gentleman’s Magazine</I> remark on his long tenure. <BR/><BR/>The British P.R.O. also offers (for £3.50) an image of the “Will of Thomas Cunningham, Lieutenant on the Half Pay of De Lancey's British American Rangers and Governor of His Majesty's Gaol of Gloucester, Gloucestershire.” Now there’s a lead! In fact, it leads right back to the American war.J. L. Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-25298216333246566722007-10-10T10:51:00.000-05:002007-10-10T10:51:00.000-05:00The online catalog of the National Archives of the...The <A HREF="http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/" REL="nofollow">online catalog</A> of the National Archives of the U.K. mentions a “letter to William Cunningham, Keeper of County Gaol, Gloucester, denying that Caleb Evans, charged with manslaughter, is a Quaker, 1805.” I don’t know what that’s all about, but it looks like the Provost Martial survived until that date, and the <I>Gentleman’s Magazine</I> was wrong about Thomas Cunningham’s tenure.J. L. Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-42818151103136106762007-10-10T10:40:00.000-05:002007-10-10T10:40:00.000-05:00More mystery: In 1836, the Gentleman’s Magazine ra...More mystery: In 1836, the <I>Gentleman’s Magazine</I> ran a <A HREF="http://books.google.com/books?id=qaklrCCQQgsC&pg=PA108" REL="nofollow">death notice</A> for “Major Thomas Cunningham, for 45 years Governor of Gloucester gaol.” That would have put him in the job starting in 1791. Perhaps the magazine mixed Thomas up with his predecessor—and father? <BR/><BR/>Binns estimated that the prisoner governor he knew as a former Provost Martial was "about fifty years of age" around 1800. Thomas Cunningham would have been forty.J. L. Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-39480712709570616092007-10-10T10:32:00.000-05:002007-10-10T10:32:00.000-05:00Here's a genealogy site listing the principal inha...Here's a <A HREF="http://www.rootsweb.com/~engcots/GloucesterInhabitants1791.html" REL="nofollow">genealogy site</A> listing the principal inhabitants of Gloucester in 1791, including “Governor of the County Prison and Penitentiary House, William CUNNINGHAM, Gent.”J. L. Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-6899765413402473402007-10-09T23:14:00.000-05:002007-10-09T23:14:00.000-05:00Damn. I just realized I could have titled this pos...Damn. I just realized I could have titled this posting "William Cunningham and a barrow load of [blank]."J. L. Bellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.com